Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July, is one of the most significant holidays in the United States.

It is a day filled with patriotic fervor, fireworks, parades, and barbecues, as Americans come together to commemorate the nation's independence. But what is the history behind this iconic celebration? I believe it is more. Much more than that. 

The story of Independence Day begins on July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress, comprised of delegates from the thirteen American colonies, adopted the Declaration of Independence.

Yes, let’s be honest. The days when the Italians, Greeks, Poles, Hungarians, Poms and Chinese all packed up and headed downunder or over yonder bear no resemblance to the current influx of migrants.

The 3 phases of population growth can be loosely tied down to the pre World War II, post WW2 and the here and now.

Society has changed and societal expectation has shifted from what ‘they can do for us ‘ to ‘what we can do for them.’

That was how speeches used to start many years ago.

I shudder to think how someone would even begin to speak today.   The lunacy that has hijacked our world has become so bad that I often wonder how public figures commence a speech at all.

No one is brave enough to say what a woman is and people are afraid to announce that they have a boy or a girl.   Having a son or daughter is no longer celebrated.   In fact, I often wonder if the word " child " is next on the list of banned words. 

People like me are so angry at what has happened to our world, and it seems that our governments are encouraging the downfall of everything we have worked towards.

Did you know that dogs, probably most of them, can read the road? Eddie could lean like a motorcycle rider on a curved road.d

I supposed it was a natural response to physical pressure of weighting to the left or right. This intrigued me enough to make an experiment to understand if the dog actually could read the road or simply responded to centrifugal forces.

On my route to town was a right-hand bend that passed over an old wooden bridge. There was also an old dirt section that went straight ahead bypassing the bridge.

To this day I carry guilt for that experiment of deception.

So many words are used these days ( even in this world of diminishing adjectives.) The young and less well-educated of our global population would no doubt tell us that something they like is awesome, wicked, cool, sick, hot, or some such other word that bears little relationship to its original meaning. 

I would hate to have to write a dictionary for today's  younger generation. How something can be cool and hot at the same time is beyond me. A young man may see a young woman and say " she is hot. " or " she is so cool. She is smoking hot " These phrases mean that a young man has just seen a particularly attractive female to whom he is sexually attracted.

I know exactly what they mean. But it caused me to ponder how our vocabularies have shrunk over the past few decades and how even our very spelling has become a shadow of its once glorious self.

Peter Jackson's 'Bad Taste': A Hilariously Twisted Journey into AbsurdityI have recently been watching ": Breaking Bad " - yes, I am a bit late to the party. Well, this article is not about that superb series ( that will be another piece once I have finished watching it ) but it is about a film I watched back in the late 80's. 

It was called " Bad Taste. " 

It was a B Grade low-budget movie, made in New Zealand, and had to be one of the most poorly acted, shockingly crazy gory bloodthirsty movies I have ever seen. And my daughters loved it.